Embedded views we may have of law departments, unquestioned and deeply rooted

What are some of the beliefs most lawyers in the United States take for granted, rarely consider or even notice, regarding corporate law departments? We are all blind to our own habituated views that we do not observe, to say nothing of articulating or even less questioning, what is “the way it is” or question the formative assumptions that guide our actions and thoughts. Some of those views missing in plain sight might be the following:

1. Litigation in court is the highest embodiment of legal representation.

2. Partners in law firms stand at the top of the law practice ladder, not in-house lawyers.

3. Lawyers should be virtually omniscient regarding their area of law.

4. Clients wish they did not have to resort to lawyers, especially those in cost centers.

5. The passage of years improves a lawyer’s judgment.

6. Lawyers are rational and objective.

7. To practice law is as much art as science.

8. Lawyers are intellectually superior to non-lawyers.

9. Lawyers abide by stricter standards of integrity and professionalism.